Book Blitz: Fast-Pitch Love by Clay Cormany

Fast-Pitch Love

by Clay Cormany

Genre: YA Romance

Release Date: November 4th 2014

Clean Reads


Summary:


What does a high school boy do if he thinks the girl of his dreams will be an assistant for the softball team his mother coaches? Easy! He volunteers to be an assistant, too. That's what Jace Waldron does in Fast-Pitch Love. It might be his only chance to make a move on Stephanie Thornapple while her boyfriend is away. But Jace's plans go awry, and soon he faces the double challenge of coaching a team of mischievous preteen girls and learning there is more to romance than physical attraction.

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EXCERPT 4 from Chapter Twenty

“Come on, Phoebe,” Jace urged. “Get us a run.”

His sister looked small standing by home plate, her head engulfed by her helmet.  She gazed at Jace and grimaced before holding her bat aloft.

The first pitch went inside.  The second was a call strike.  Another inside pitch and then a swing and a miss.

“Strike her out!  She can’t hit!  Strike her out!” the Dragon players cried out to their pitcher.

“Protect the plate,” Martha urged her daughter. “Just try to put the ball in play.”

Jace didn’t want to watch as the next pitch came homeward.  But he did anyway, and what he saw was Phoebe swinging away and making enough contact to send the ball bouncing slowly toward the gap between the pitcher’s mound and first base. As Phoebe took off down the baseline, Corey made a mad dash toward home, and the other two runners also tried to advance.

“Come on, Phoebe, you can beat it out,” Jace shouted.

With arms and legs churning, Phoebe tried to comply.

Realizing her pitcher would not reach the ball soon enough, the Dragon’s first baseman ran forward and scooped it up. Then she pivoted around and ran back toward her base, trying to get there before Phoebe.  When both girls closed to within a few feet of the bag, the first baseman lunged at Phoebe, trying to tag her out.

“Dive for it!” Jace cried.

Phoebe lowered her head and flung herself horizontally with arms outstretched toward the base.  This caused the first baseman to miss the tag, but the girl had enough sense to thrust her foot toward the base in the hope of still getting the force out.  To Jace’s not-unbiased eye, Phoebe’s hand reached the base a split second ahead of the Dragon infielder’s foot.  The umpire, who had moved from behind home plate to within a few feet of where Jace stood, saw it that way, too.

“Safe!” he shouted, crossing his arms two or three times.

The cry of joy from the Valkyries’ side matched the roar of dismay from the Dragons and their fans.  Jace signaled time out and reached down to help Phoebe to her feet.  As he did, the Dragons’ assistant coach brushed by him, charging like an angry rhinoceros toward the umpire.

Praise:

"The
books has some unexpected twists and turns as the likeable but somewhat hapless
Jace grows into a young man who takes responsibility for his life and his
choices. Softball aficionados will have a particular affinity for this book
because its game descriptions are extensive and detailed. Those who don't know
softball will come to like and admire the young protagonist."  Gretchen Hirsch, author and book doctor

"I
enjoyed this young adult novel by Clay Cormany. The story told from a guy's
perspective made it especially interesting. I think a lot of young women would
enjoy seeing romance from a guy's point of view. I also liked that the novel
was innocent without gratuitous sex or swear words." Paulita Kincer,
author of The Summer of France and Trail Mix

"Like the spin on a fastball, Fast-Pitch Love puts a new spin on the age old
boy meets girl phenomenon. And what a wonderful spin it is. Clay Cormany weaves
together the twin themes of teenage infatuation and a girls’ softball team.
Along the way he does a wonderful job of mixing the excitement of youth sports
with the impending showdown between two suitors of the same pretty girl."

The
Dane

"Fast-Pitch Love is an unusual
coming-of-age story since it's told from the guy's point of view. The
characters are likeable and believable; the action well paced. You don't need
to be a softball player, or even an athlete, to thoroughly enjoy Fast-Pitch
Love."  Louise

About the Author

Before writing Fast-Pitch Love, Clay Cormany spent over 20 years as a writer and editor for Ohio's State Board of Education. His creative work has appeared in numerous central Ohio publications, including the Columbus Dispatch and Spring Street, Columbus State Community College's literary magazine. He has also edited numerous books, including a three-volume biography of Christopher Columbus and A Death Prolonged by Dr. Jeff Gordon, which received coverage in the New York Times and on PBS. Fast-Pitch Love reflects the two years Cormany spent interacting with softball players and coaches both in practice and competition. He contributes the earnings from sale of the book to girls softball programs in central Ohio and elsewhere.

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GUEST POST

MY WRITING PROCESS

I'm not sure a description of my writing process will help other writers. To me, each writer is someone unique, someone whose approach to writing might be quite different from mine. That said, if a discussion of my writing process opens a new channel of creativity to fellow writers – or alerts them to potential pitfalls – my effort here will not be wasted.

I begin by outlining a story's content from beginning to end. I'm typically clearer about what I want in the first two or three chapters than I am about the later ones. Accordingly, the outline's main headings usually follow this pattern: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four (maybe), Middle Chapters, Final Chapters. Invariably, some chapters are ready for immediate development. Dialogue, descriptions, and actions are all set to be moved onto the computer screen. Other chapters are vague. Perhaps they require a more-thorough understanding of who my characters are. Perhaps I must research an unfamiliar topic. Whatever the case, I forge ahead with the chapters that are solid in my mind.

When I finish the solid chapters, the resulting draft often resembles Swiss cheese. It presents a more-or-less complete story with several holes. For the early draft of Fast-Pitch Love, a doughnut would be a more-fitting metaphor. It had a beginning, an ending, but no middle. Fortunately, as I write the solid chapters, I become better equipped to write the vague ones. Details emerge and characters gain more depth. Facts, unknown at the beginning, come into play.

As I move past the first draft, firming up once-vague chapters, I face two challenges. The first is correcting inconsistencies. This was a big problem in Fast-Pitch Love. For example, in the book's first draft, I had the protagonist's family living in a ranch-style house, but later made them run to the house's second floor. Less-noticeable inconsistencies cropped up in descriptions of softball games. More than once, I had one girl playing multiple positions in the same inning.

The second challenge is resisting the urge to make everything “perfect” by the end of the second draft. The desire to find all the right word combinations and eliminate every misplaced comma probably stems from my days as a state government editor. Back then, I usually had to make all revisions to a publication in a short time frame. Now, though I seldom face tight deadlines, I have spent up to an hour searching for the “right” word.

Throughout the process, I share my drafts with my critique group. These good people are adept at identifying sudden POV shifts, implausible plot twists, confusing dialogue, and inconsistencies that I missed. The finished story may not be ideal, but it usually reflects the full application of whatever literary talent I am fortunate enough to possess.

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